Saskatchewan’s Siemens among Canada West football players of the week

A pair of Canada West record book worthy performances and some special teams trickery highlight the Week 2 CW Football Players of the Week.

Saskatchewan quarterback Kyle Siemens (offence), UBC linebacker Elliot Graham (defence), and Calgary holder Hunter Karl (special teams) were named winners Monday, as all three led their respective teams to victories. Saskatchewan and Calgary improved to 2-0, while UBC evened its record at 1-1.

Siemens, Graham, and Karl will be back in action this weekend, as the conference returns to the field Saturday with a pair of Canada West Football Showcasetelevised games, including Saskatchewan travelling to UBC to take on the Thunderbirds (5 p.m. PT). Earlier in the day, Alberta (0-2) heads to Regina (1-1) to take on the Rams in the other Week 3 CW FB Showcase game(1 p.m. PT).

Those games can be seen on SaskTel (Saskatchewan), TELUS (Alberta and B.C.), and Bell MTS (Manitoba), while Calgary vs. Manitoba (Saturday, 11 a.m. PT) can be viewed exclusively on Canada West TV.

Offence

Saskatchewan Huskies quarterback Kyle Siemens is the offensive player of the week after guiding his team to a 2-0 record, following a convincing 43-17 win over the Alberta Golden Bears at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.

Siemens led the way for the Huskies through the air, going 19-for-27 and 271 yards without an interception.

Among Siemens’ 19 completions were five touchdown passes – the most by a Huskie quarterback in more than a decade and tied for second most all-time in a single game by a Saskatchewan pivot, behind only Brent Schneider. Schneider holds the CW record with eight touchdown passes in a single game, after setting the mark back on Oct. 8, 1994 against UBC.

Defence

The defensive player of the week is UBC linebacker Elliot Graham, whose 107-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter helped lead the Thunderbirds to 32-18 home win over the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday.

Graham’s interception return was the longest in UBC history and tied for second longest in Canada West history behind only Eric Duchene’s 109-yarder for Saskatchewan in 2001.

The Hamilton, Ont, product also added a pair of pass breakups in the victory and becomes the second consecutive rookie to win the CW defensive player of the week award this season after Regina’s Nick Cross won Week 1.

Special teams

Hunter Karl did it all for the Dinos in their 46-26 win over the Regina Rams on Friday.

In addition to his two offensive touchdowns and 131 receiving yards, Karl added a special teams major, as the third-year Arts Student helped cement Calgary’s win with a 17-yard fake field goal run to the end zone late in the fourth quarter.

Calgary’s leading receiver through two games with 248 yards, Karl executed the fake field goal to perfection, rolling to his left and beating the Rams to the front pylon for the major, which capped off the scoring for Calgary.

Watch CFL stars of the future on Canada West TV

More than 50 CW players started the 2017 season on CFL rosters, including 10 CW players taken inside the top six rounds of this year’s CFL Draft.

Fans can watch every CW regular season game along with the three Hardy Cup Playoff games – including the 81st Hardy Cup on Nov. 11 – by purchasing a Canada West TV pass.

This season all-access and school passes will also provide access to CW football games in condensed versions.

Additionally, a total of 15 CW games can be seen on SaskTel (Saskatchewan), TELUS (Alberta and B.C.), and Bell MTS (Manitoba) this season as part of the Canada West Football Showcase.

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